NANOWRI PREP

Assignment 4: Freestyle Writing

Write for a set amount of time on the above topic. Don’t stop writing, don’t edit. You can do this as a group activity as well by using one sheet for each person, then you can discuss what you wrote as a group. 15-30 minutes

My idea is to have the novel be from the point of view of the male, not the female. I don’t know if it will work because I am not of the male persona, but I like the idea.

I think I have to have the thing lay out in reverse order. Or maybe back and forth like a bad Seinfeld show where we start out in ever decreasing increments to explain how the catastrophe or the win comes about. Maybe I will start with the loss, and tie it up in a nice little bow with the back and forth timeline and end by wrapping it up in a nice little happy ending.

I have one male lead, one female sublead, what is the antagonist…history? All the people that make up a person’s knee jerk reactions to something that is potentially a gigantic mess.

The names are turning out to be a joke and I have to find a way to make them not so, so, so, I don’t know, blasé. Does that even make sense? I don’t want people to roll their eyes when I am trying to explain how the characters got from point a to point b. I want to find a way to protect the integrity of the characters without minimizing them with anything that may seem trivial, obscure, or ridiculous.

I have it in my head that I need to come up with three conflicts and resolutions. That would work with this back and forth timeline. I could use that meandering time line to sketch out the characters, because there are so many.

The typical conflicts are lost, storms, exes. The typical resolutions are landing somewhere safe or with someone safe. These do not have to be the male and female lead, because that would give fuel for the drama build up.

This ultimately has to be a romantic drama or romantic comedy … now that would be interesting … still have to have the conflict and resolution, but the human side of people would show up. It might be easier to relate to the funny catastrophes people wonder into than to have everything be a vicious cycle of stupid coincidences. I need to do some serious people watching, because let’s face it, real people are better than anything I can come up with on my own.

What potential problems need to be addressed in this story:
Location: Figure out a way to write about a place I have driven through, but have not stopped to talk to the people.
Plot: The plot can easily drift if the timeline is not clearly laid.
Characters: The premise behind the story can easily go outer Pluto if I do not keep it grounded with some type of real or imagined barriers that cannot be crossed. Need to explore that some more.
Fear: I still question my talent. I still wonder if there are 25K to 50K words in me to complete a thought.
SHOW DON’T TELL. It is a constant problem. I think I am getting better. It will be easier to hit the 50K mark if I figure this out.
POINT OF VIEW. I personally like third person omniscient so that I know what is happening and why. I don’t know if that works so much with readers.